If you take a poll of American pundits and policymakers about the greatest threat facing the U.S. government, they’d probably put China at the top of the list. Maybe a handful would opt for Russia. A few holdouts from the War on Terrorism era might point to Islamic extremism.
But the greatest threat to the U.S. government is actually Junior Airman Jack Teixeira.
The 21-year-old behind the leak of U.S. intelligence documents might seem like just a guy who wanted to win a few points with his buddies in an on-line discussion group. Sharing insider information to demonstrate his street cred was, of course, an extraordinarily stupid thing to do. But Teixeira was no whistleblower like Chelsea Manning or Reality Winner. He shared the documents in the belief that they wouldn’t go beyond the relatively small circle of gamers in his chat group Thug Shaker Central on the Discord platform.
So, how much of a threat could that be?
For all his youth and naivete, Teixeira represents a sizable government-skeptical force that works in or adjacent to the U.S. government. Many of these right-wing and extreme libertarian individuals can be found in the military. Others are elected representatives—from school boards up to the U.S. …read more
Source:: Institute for Policy Studies
